Weeder posted information about the St Boniface Church in San Francisco which started an initiative to invite the homeless indoors for the cold winter nights and said the cathedral would now do the same. Picture: Henk Kruger/African News Agency

St George’s Cathedral to open doors to homeless at night

By Athina May Mar 20, 2018

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Cape Town - A place of prayer will soon become a sanctuary for the homeless in the city. This after the dean of St George’s Cathedral, the Very Reverend Michael Weeder, made an appeal on social media for assistance in the form blankets and meals among other during opening the church’s doors to the homeless at night.

Weeder posted information about the St Boniface Church in San Francisco which started an initiative to invite the homeless indoors for the cold winter nights and said the cathedral would now do the same.

Weeder said the cathedral had been harshly criticised in the past for not doing anything about the homeless people who slept on the property.

“Three years ago we closed what we called ‘the arch’ which was a feeding programme for the homeless because it became a gathering point for criminal elements and people’s lives were threatened. But we have not been living the crossbow mandate, which is in St John’s Gospel which says ‘I was hungry and you did not feed me, I was naked and you did not clothe me’. We have been harshly criticised about people sleeping on our grounds and not doing anything about it,” he said.

The Very Rev Michael Weeder is the current Dean of St George's Cathedral. File picture: Leon Muller/ANA

The cathedral is reliant on volunteers, who will be needed to assist the homeless and provide them with the necessary hospitality and hygiene assistance.

“About 100 people will be sleeping in the hall and once we give people shelter, they will be our responsibility. When we open the door we need to point them to the bathroom and provide hospitality.

“We will be meeting on Tuesday next week at 6pm at the cathedral to open the discussion up to the community about it. It’s not exclusively a church initiative,” said Weeder.